This past Saturday my girls and I had the pleasure of being invited to a Build-A-Bear workshop at the Toy Kingdom in the East Rand Mall

It all started with a pre-event gift unveiling of their Disney Princesses.

Once upon a time two little princess received a gift from the land of Toy Kingdom. So these princesses squealed with delight, not realising what was in store for them (I made a funny). They were about to embark on adventure with their mom. 

It has been one week since the South African Mommy Blogger Awards were announced and I am still walking around like a boss. My children partially listen to me. My husband thinks I am hilarious, well that is what I tell him to think about me.

What’s Going On? to be sung in the same tune as 4nonblondes.

I won Best Comedian Writer at the 2017 SA Mommy Blogger Awards!!! That’s what’s going on!

Today is one more sleep and then it is school holidays.

Am I scared?

A little… and that is a rookie thing to be. Scared, not a rookie at parenting.

The first rule of parenting, or taking care of the children, is that those snot-flickers can smell fear. It’s part of their DNA, so we can’t really blame them. It’s mother nature’s fault.

Back to first rule: Do not ever tell your children that it is a special day and that they must behave. Something ticks over in the brain and then there it is. The glazed look and twinkle in their eye … CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.

“I will do everything opposite to what my lovely parent has asked of me”

Said in an evil whisper.

Sayings that I try live my life by:

Be the change you want to see in the world. Be kind always.

I was nominated by Carly who blogs over at Mom Of Two Little Girls to do a Random Act of Kindness. Don’t worry, I don’t just stalk her, she does know who I am. Promise!

Upon receiving my nomination, I went through the different emotions of me:

• Elation and Excitement (it’s the same but I was that happy)
• Amazement (I was picked)
• Doubt and questioning (mmmh was this her Random Act of Kindness … why me?)
• Over-analysing (what will I do?)
• Procrastination.

 Yes, it is exhausting being me.

We are only in February and I am already experiencing huge anxiety because I feel like I have failed my child, and I think grade one is going to break me. My anxiety about this is making me a bit of a hot mess, as in sweaty.

Grade One and homework, who would have thought that you would cause me more anxiety than Jacob Zuma?

Grade One was so different when I started school, now the pressure is on. Everyone warned me. I thought I was prepared. It turns out, I wasn’t. Nothing can possibly prepare you for Grade One.

In one of my past lives I was an au pair, and for a few years I ran a local agency supplying au pairs to families.

What Is An Au Pair?

There are many definitions of au pairs and childminders, but during my time running the agency and trying to put some structure to a very new environment and service, this is what we decided on with regards to providing an explanation for each service:   

A couple of years ago we decided on a lovely family holiday. This was back when we only had one child, now we have two. We ummed and ahhed over flights to Cape Town, but in the end we decided that a road trip would be much more fun! What follows in this post is an account of day one of our journey!

Making it from the front door to the car

This is a post with no helpful travel hints on keeping your child occupied. We were quite lucky as my child kept herself rather well occupied; she did this by asking for us to stop for a wee every 18.7 minutes and alternating with the questions, “Where is the sea? When will be at the sea? Can I have a wee in the sea? Why can’t I pooh in the sea, I want to pooh in the sea? Does the sea have eyes? I want the sea? When can I see the sea? Can the sea see? When will we be at the sea?” All of this was as we were pulling out the driveway, in Benoni!

Expectation vs Reality

I envisioned the perfect holiday and it started out that way; perfectly chaotic that is, with a meltdown or two thrown in for good measure.

Meltdown one: Me to Ms K. “Morning, we are going to the sea my baby. You have a choice of these two outfits.”

What ensued was 40 minutes of screaming, crying and feeling sorry for oneself and that was just me! This is an ongoing problem in our household, getting Kenzie to wear the required outfit for the ensuing activity. Somehow, through the snot and tears, she ended up wearing a blue tutu with a spotted top and those plastic girly high heels, also known as, “eina” heels. Smugly, thinking we had won, we put her in the car, ready to leave for the sea. Come to think of it, Miss K won, she wore neither the dress nor the t-shirt and shorts combo that I put out.

They were cute outfits, I promise.

Meltdown two: Ms T didn’t want the cereal I made for her breakfast, nor did she want to sit, stand, crawl or smile.

Ok, let me rephrase that, I can be so negative sometimes; she did want to cry and moan.

Meltdown three: A mom, wondering where her perfect holiday vision had gone, as she sits in a cesspit tears that have washed away her dreams, as she starts drowning in the constant stream of pity and worthlessness.

First world problems can bite me.

At this stage we are already an hour behind schedule, and it is a bit more delayed as we have to stop for our obligatory personality, Coffee!

I’m all about solutions!

The perfect way to avoid any of the above is to fly with your children instead! Here are my top 5 reasons why flying with children is better than any of the above:

1. There are loos everywhere so nothing stops one from getting to said destination.
2. Not having to navigate. This is a whole other blog post, but honestly, how do marriages survive kids and directions on road trips?
3. The experience of flying. I love it and I hope my girls will love it even more than me.
4. Time. Saving time to holiday and getting to experience more. Let’s plan road trips when the kids are older.
5. Air Conditioned airport lounges.

In case I haven’t managed to convince you yet here is a video from our friends at Travelstart about their experiences of flying with children.

Here are 10 Tips for flying with children:

In case you were wondering, the next time we decide to go on holiday, we will definitely be booking cheap flights to Cape Town!

Disclaimer: This post was done in collaboration with Travelstart. 

What does it mean to be a mom with ADHD?

I was only diagnosed with ADHD this year, 2017. Whilst it was a bit of a surprise to me, apparently not so much to the people close to me who it came as no surprise to!

Why did I decide to tackle this now?

What’s in a name?

Whilst one might think of Gin & Tonic when hearing the name of my blog, and whilst you won’t be wrong, you won’t be right either.

Whilst I do like the occasional Gin & Tonic sundowner, alas that is not the “tonic” I am referring to in the name of my blog – Tonic & Tiaras.

Continue reading

As you may have heard, or seen the girls and I along with the hubster were invited to an exclusive screening of the MY LITTLE PONY: THE MOVIE which hits cinemas this month (October 2017).

We followed the adventures of the Mane 6 pony characters as they journey from Equestria, in a heart-warming tale of adventure, magical characters, colourful worlds and humour for all ages. Watch the Movie trailer here